Friday, February 29, 2008

Well I finally got out on the Bianchi again. Have been doing a lot of roller action lately because of the weather and wanted to hit the pavement badly!

I got 47 miles in and it was windier than I would have liked it to be. Headed down into Hamburg and out to Eden and then looped back around and headed for Springville. Made it just out of Springville and headed home because of time constraints. Now the deciding point was which hill to head up and I felt pretty good so I headed up the backside of Boston-Colden and Cole Road. This is a brutal climb on my Cannondale so you can imagine what it is like on the SS mountain bike. I took it easy and just watched my heart rate and made it up the hill no problem!

I want to hit lower east hill road next after a ride like that to see how it feels heading up that road again.

I have to watch my nutrition because I got shaky half way down to Springville and stopped for a Gatorade and Fig Newtons and pigged out on those. Felt a lot better, but it was colder than I thought it would be so I put another shirt on top of my layers for the final part home.

I wonder if that helped lead to me getting sick this week or if I was overdoing it a little.

Tomorrow is an 8 mile run and if I don't feel up to it - I am going to skip it! No big deal. I definitely have a good base in and 1 easy week will not kill me!

Well we hit 13 miles on the training plan today. I have done it 3 times now plus 1 15so I felt confident but I wanted to work my heart rate and keep it as low as possible while still working in the 10:30 - 11:15 mpm rate. Jeff went out fast (like always!) and I stayed with him most of the way but then at the 9 mile point my h/r was going out of the zone I wanted to keep it in so I let him go ahead.

At 2 hours I decided it was time to push myself a little and did the last 15 minutes at a substantially higher heart rate but I passed Jeff and ended up doing the total in 2:14:44 or somewhere around there (been busy this week so I am posting on Friday for last week - hard to remember!)

The push felt good and it was nice to keep a high heart rate for that long, but I got sick this week and have only ran 1 day since Saturday. An easy recovery run. I am fine with that because I know I have the base. Just don't want to get sick right now!

Well to start off with, it was freezing out Saturday morning. The temperature had to be around 11 degrees so I bundled up and headed out to meet Jeff at the Methodist Church. He was scheduled for 11 and I was 15+ depending on how I came home.

The run down Cole was very pleasant and felt good to get lose before heading out with Jeff. The one good thing about meeting them while running - I am already warmed up. The down side is I have already started my Heart Rate going and need to monitor food and fuel based on how I feel, not on their status!

So we head down Ellicott and turned North on Davis to 20-A. Pretty good run with some light hills and flat ground to warm up on. At this point we found out Jeff's camelbak was frozen so I loaned him one of my water bottles! 20-A was uphill to Old Transit and that was downhill and then a good uphill to the crest of Jewett-Holmwood. Took that down to the village and headed back up Ellicott towards the church.

We parted ways because he wanted to go faster and I was working on Heart Rate and keeping it at a lower rate to help my base fitness level get higher. I headed up Scherff a relatively low incline level, but a long way up to the top. Ran as slow as possible to keep my Heart Rate as low as possible. Got to the top and took some water from the running club that had it set up. I need to provide for them one day, because this happens more often than not!

Headed home and finished in a 10:40 pace. Just over 2 hours and 44 minutes. The longest I have ever run for sure. Felt good after I cleaned up but I had to head out fast for our basketball game. Need to refuel better at the end of these runs, but all in all felt pretty good!

Monday, February 11, 2008

Well we added a 3rd to our triathlon training group - Jeff O'Vell. He is a strong runner and should have no problem completing the training at all. He actually made me a little mad with how well he ran the 9 miles that we did on Saturday, but I got over it quickly (maybe!!!).

So we took a run out to Hamburg and back and it was real good. I am still wanting to increase my base fitness level even higher so I am really watching my H/R during the long runs. I would rather take a long time and have a nice low H/R rather than finish it up fast and be out of the proper zone!

Bike Ride on Sunday was done at the YMCA. It was snowing, 20 degrees outside with 20-30 mph winds making a wind chill of sub zero at times and I was not dumb enough to rish an outdoor ride.

My swimming is coming along and I look forward to my daily training program so no threat of overtraining or burnout as of yet. Need to incorporate a steady rest day though so I don't end up at that point!

This week I am getting outside for some runs and rides no matter what. I miss my mountain bike and really dred the rollers that I have to do instead (like tonight for 1 hour!). I know it will make me stronger, but I still don't look forward to doing it that is for sure!

Monday, February 4, 2008

Today I set the alarm for 4:00am (the comforts we give up just to get some training in before church) and ate some light breakfast, got dressed and hit the road by 5:15am. I definitely have to work on the time out of the house, because this put a limit on how much riding I actually got to do later on.

I headed out towards Hamburg and tried to stay away from car areas because I figured the only people on the road at that time were heading to work or home from the bar and I did not want to become a statistic! Got into Hamburg and decided to take RT-391 down into Boston. What a great ride. Stopped at the bank to refuel and headed out to South Boston. Contemplated heading down into Springville, but common sense took over (drunk drivers again) and I headed back up to Hamburg.

Got into Hamburg and headed north towards Hamburg High School. Cars in the parking lot (maybe a Master's Swim Club???? - Need to check on that!) cut up South Park and headed home down Powers and Armour Duells.

Got 42.5 miles in but towards the end my right leg (behind my knee) was hurting when I pulled up on the pedal. Got a little worried about that so I took it easy. I kept my Heart Rate down in the Z2 range (just what I wanted to do!) until I hit Cole Road but that is alright.

Great Ride altogether. Need to work on accessing food and water on cold days to make refueling faster to get more time on the bike in! Very pleased with progress overall!

TRANSIOWA V4 is coming sooner rather than later - the bike is your friend!

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Well I have a new training partner -Pastor Todd! It was cool running with someone finally. I believe this is the first time ever (except the 1mile jog Amelia and I took together!). We are doing the program 4 hour Marathon in 4 months. Today was a LSR of 7 miles, but my Nike program called for a LSR of 14 miles so I ran over to the park and met him, did 7 miles, and ran home for a total of 13 miles!

I felt good all the way, but Chestnut Ridge Road is a bear!!!!! My heart rate got too high so I walked again after Todd and I split up at the park entrance. I needed to get some food and gel in me also so I downed the other half of my ClifBar and a gel pack for the 3 miles home. It got me home, but I did not feel as strong as I would have liked to!

So I will continue to work on my endurance and continue to get stronger. I ran a total of 39 miles this week - by far the most ever! Tomorrow is a bike day (50 Miles Hopefully!). Feel pretty good so far about my training, but I know I need more time on the bike!

Everything - Mainly Bicycles by Bill

I got hit with the bug doing an adventure race in 2007. Since then I have completed an ultra marathon, The 2008 Buffalo Marathon, M2Extreme XTerra triathlon, and various other local races.

My friend and I recently finished a 28 day bike tour on the Underground Railroad from Mobile, AL to our homes in Orchard Park, NY (1802 total miles). You can read about our trip here.

My long term goal is to complete the Great Divide Race from Banff, Canada to the Mexico/New Mexico border. I am also very interested in participating in the Arrowhead 135 and someday attempting the Iditarod Trail Invitational in Alaska. Only time will tell!

You can follow my training and my feelings throughout the upcoming season. Feel free to comment and have a great day!

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